Blood Dance
Blood Dance 'is an audio drama released by Big Finish Productions in April 2010. Back cover ''“I knew instantly that a dangerous power was at work here…” The year is 1929, and Quentin Collins finds himself in Chicago, captivated by the city’s energy and the prospect of a new love. Drawn into the twilight world of speakeasies and organized crime at the Arcadia Club, he becomes embroiled with owner Chandres Tessier – an enigmatic woman to whom he is inexorably drawn, but who hides a dark secret... Synopsis Quentin Collins sits in Collinwood musing over the past. He looks through a photo album and discusses various photos. Settling on a photo taken in Chicago, he remembers a certain woman and recalls a monstrous inconceivable horror. ''Theme'' Chicago, 1929. At the Arcadia Club, Quentin encounters the owner Chandres Tessier. Exchanging life stories, she explains that as a child her parents disappeared under mysterious circumstances and she was taken in by an eccentric and overprotective aunt and uncle. Quentin observes that everything about the place is unconventional. Chandres explains that all of her dancers are orphans or from broken homes. He observes that they’re all so beautiful but with an odd air about them ... almost as if under a spell. He recalls how she came to dominate his every thought. One night, Quentin discovers two shadowy figures breaking into the club. He follows them and finds them outside the entrance to Chandres’ suite. Without thinking, he tackles them both and a fight ensues. Hearing the noise, Chandres emerges from her suite to find that Quentin the only one still standing. Seconds later, the two men make a getaway. Chandres deduces the men to be from a gang wanting to offer her "protection" in exchange from a significant percentage of her profits. She asks Quentin to act as her bodyguard, but deducing the men left a little too quickly he refuses the offer. She suggests they think of some other arrangement over a nightcap. In the days that follow, Quentin spends more and more time with Chandres. Often finding himself entranced by her voice, he senses that she is somehow linked to the occult. One Friday evening, following Chandres' dancers backstage he discovers one of the dancers dead but with no apparent injures. He confronts Chandres about this, and she explains the death away as a seizure. One Wednesday night around 3am, Quentin becomes intrigued by a tall dark figure heading towards the Arcadia Club. Finding the doorman slumped unconscious, Quentin follows the figure inside. The figure, noticing it's being followed, attacks Quentin with a glowing blue blade. After fighting it off, and much to Quentin's surprise, the form begins to diminish away. Nothing but an empty coat and hat is left. Quentin tells Chandres about what happened. She comes clean and explains that her uncle is the leader of a cult called The Blue Rose specializing in the black arts and other depraved practices. Chandres says that she was groomed to become one of its members. It's been fifteen years since she managed to escape and they’ve wanted her back ever since. She concludes their agents were responsible for the recent death of her dancer. Quentin wants to believe her, but suspects she’s not telling the whole story. Determined to find out where Chandres’ dancers go when not on stage, Quentin follows them but doesn't get far when he is stopped by Chandres; she makes excuses but this only further piques his curiosity. One evening he overhears a wailing noise and discovers Chandres cradling a dead dancer. Chandres declares that she was so close to saving herself this time. When she left the Blue Rose cult, they poisoned her by tainting her blood and she now has to consume the blood of her dancers so that she can survive. She also reveals that the men that Quentin stopped from breaking into the Arcadia Club were part of his initiation. She stares into Quentin's eyes, making that familiar desire for her wash all over him. There is a knock at the door and in steps a attractive but impoverished young blonde, Chandres is pleased with the girl, saying she’ll do nicely as one of her dancers. Quentin begs her to spare the girl, to Chandres there is no choice between preserving her own life and preserving that of someone who will never be missed. Using her powers, she uncovers Quentin's past and tells him that she can use the same method that she has been using to completely free quentin from his curse. Realizing that Chandres is determined to continue as she has been doing, Quentin warns her that if she harms that girl, then he will kill Chandres. Unfazed by this, she declares that Quentin will be her agent of The Blue Rose’s destruction. Quentin is later dismayed to see the new girl as part of Chandres' dance troupe. Each night, Quentin finds himself drawn to the Arcadia Club, unable to resist Chandres’ control. Realizing that Chandres' ultimate aim for him is to restore his Werewolf Curse so that she can use that invulnerability to destroy The Blue Rose and growing increasingly frustrated, he decides to attract the attention of The Blue Rose so that he can make them an offer. The tall figure that he had previously encountered takes him to the leader of the Blue Rose, Chandres' uncle. Quentin offers to help him by bringing his niece back into their fold. Chandres' uncle gives Quentin a shining crystal which features at its center a perfectly etched blue rose. Touching it immediately causes a warm soothing sensation to flood through Quentin’s body, and he is instructed to place it in Chandres’ hand. Back at the Arcadia Club, Quentin wastes no time in placing the crystal into Chandres’ hand under the pretense of a gift. The room seems to freeze as weaving tendrils of shadow envelop Chandres, causing her to convulse in agony. Once her screaming stops, the club returns back to normal. As Quentin leaves, he observes that Chandres is now one amongst the mindless dancers of the club, her sightless eyes now glowing a strange blue. ''Theme' Memorable quotes Dramatis personae *David Selby as Quentin Collins *Lisa Richards as Chandres Tessier Background information and notes *Included at the end of this release are trailers for Clothes of Sand, The Ghost Watcher and The Wicked and the Dead. * The Arcadia Club would be mentioned in passing by George Mayfield in The Phantom Bride. Bloopers and continuity errors Official website *Big Finish Productions: Blood Dance Category:Big Finish Audio Dramas